R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Hoshiarpur
Hospital inaugurated: A multi-super speciality Shivam Hospital was inaugutated here on Sunday. According to Sunder Sham Arora and Krishan Kumar Vasal, partners at the hospital, as many as 20 types of latest facilities in various departments.

Ludhiana
Water disinfectant enters market: Rajdeep Water Solution Private Limited has entered the retail market with the launch of 50 ml family pack of twin oxide, a water disinfectant manufactured by Twin Oxide International BV, its international partner. Used in over 80 countries, twin oxide purifies water and makes it safe for human consumption, as specified under European standards.

CHANDIGARH

Paper presented: Dr Jassy Anand, a fingerprint expert, has presented a paper on “hand writing comparison of ruralites and urbanites” at the Americam Academy of Forensic Sciences, Chicago. The practising hand writing expert in on the panel of reputed private organisations in the region.

HARYANA

BHIWANI
Office-bearers: The new office-bearers of the Bhiwani Plastic Association were elected here on Sunday. Col Rampal Singh presided over the meeting. Nand Kishore Kamra was unanimously elected the president of the association. Raj Kumar Garg and Venod Sharma were elected vice-presidents, Gopal Halwasia general secretary, Pawan Bhartia secretary, Vinod Goyal treasurer, Shalu Jain joint secretary, Naresh Mittal and Ajay Lohariwala auditors, Surender Sharma press spokesman and Col Rampal Singh and Sanwarmal Kejriwal were elected patrons of the association.

FATEHABAD
Liquor vend looted: Miscreants struck at a liquor vend at Hansewala village in the district on Sunday and robbed cash and some cartons of liquor. In another incident, some miscreants broke into a house and decamped with some gold ornaments. Later, a Maruti car was found abandoned near Saniana village and some cartons of liquor were also recovered from it. SP Vivek Sharma said it was not yet established whether both incidents were the handiwork of the same gang.

Kurukshetra
Exhibition: Lt-Gen (Dr) DDS Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, inaugurated a two-day exhibition of antique artefacts at Dharohar Haryana Museum on the varsity campus here on the occasion of ‘World Heritage Day’ on Monday. More than 150 artefacts were donated to Dharohar Haryana Museum on the occasion.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
3 booked for threatening: The police on Sunday booked three persons for allegedly threatening a Forest Range officer of the Kalatop-Khajjiar Wildlife Sanctuary with dire consequences and beating up forest guard Surjit Singh on Saturday. An FIR was registered on the statement of Range Officer (Wildlife) Yashpal. However, no arrest had been made so far.

KULLU
Driver killed in accident: Rajesh Kumar, driver of a tempo, died on the spot when his vehicle was hit by a speeding private bus at Chakki Nullah near Naggar on the Kullu-Manali left bank road on Monday. The police confirmed that the driver of the bus had been detained and a case was being investigated.

MANDI
28 injured as buses collide: Twentyeight passengers were injured, five of them seriously, when two private buses of Anuj Travel and Anjali Travel had a headlong collision as the driver of one bus overtook a vehicle at the curve near Saat Meel on the Mandi-Kullu national highway on Monday. The injured were rushed to the Mandi zonal hospital and declared to be out of danger. But five of them, including a 10-year-old child, were stated to be serious but stable. The police has registered a case of negligence against the driver.

Assurance on museum plea: Responding to the long-pending demand of artists, NGOs and writers, Mandi DC Amandeep Garg assured them that he had asked the district language officer to inspect unused government buildings near Sundernagar for a museum. He was addressing participants in a two-day function organised by the HP RTI Bureau, Mandi, to protect the rotting arts on World Heritage Day on Monday.

Insurance firm fined: The District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum, Mandi, has awarded a compensation of Rs 54,681 to complainant Ramdas, a resident of Sarkghat. The forum rejected the plea of New India Assurance Company and ruled that the company should pay the compensation to Ramdas with 9 per cent interest. They held Ramdas’ plea valid and rejected the company’s plea which had cited a breach of agreement on account of the complainant’s licence being invalid.

PALAMPUR
One killed in mishap: One person was killed and another injured when a tractor-trailer met with an accident near Lamba Gaon, 40 km from here, on Monday. Ram Kumar, driver-cum-owner of the vehicle, was crushed under the vehicle. He was on his way home carrying sand on the vehicle. His body was extricated with the help of a JCB machine. The police has registered a case.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Srinagar
Cashier held with embezzled money: The police arrested a cashier of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Handwara, and recovered Rs 12.80 lakh of embezzled money from him on Monday. Cashier Assadullah Shah had embezzled about Rs 22 lakh from the branch and was at large.

Cellphones seized from jail inmates: Days after the police claimed that a jail inmate was in touch with the conspirators who killed the president of the Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadees, Moulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, it, during a raid on the Central Jail here, sezied 20 cellphones and 15 SIM cards from the jail inmates on Monday. A police officer said some cash was also seized. Investigations were on to find out whether these were used to hatch the conspiracy to kill Moulana Showkat.

DEHRADUN

DEHRADUN
German students  visit school: Under an exchange programme, a delegation of German students and teachers visited Unison World School on Monday to know the cultural differences between the two countries. School Principal Veena Singh and Dean (Activities) Trilok Singh Bisht welcomed the guests in a traditional way. Following it was an interaction session. Students from both the countries shared their cultures with each other.

Cleaner falls off hotel canopy: A cleaner sustained serious injuries when he reportedly fell from a canopy of a hotel located on Haridwar Road on Monday. The victim, Sachin Uniyal, was rushed to the CMI Hospital, where he has been kept in an ICU.

Caste certificates: In protest against the delay in getting caste certificates on time, members of the Uttarakhand Mahanagar Mahila Congress Committee today held a protest outside the office of Dehradun District Magistrate Sachin Kurve. Kamlesh Raman, city chief of the committee, said due to the delay in getting caste certificates, they were facing problems in getting their wards admitted to schools.

Meeting postponed: A meeting called by state Sports Minister Khajan Dass at Sports College, Raipur, has been postponed. It will now held on April April 25. He said the meeting was important so that the dispute among various cricket associations can be solved.

Kumaon Briefs
Inclement weather hits life: With the weather playing truant over the past two days, the normal life has has been hit in certain parts of the Kumaon region. Fast blowing winds have led to the falling of trees and hoardings at several places while power supply has also been disrupted in several parts. Trees were uprooted and hoardings were blown away in Nainital, Haldwani and Ramnagar. The entire region suffered a temporary power crisis as the 132 KV power station experienced a fire outbreak, following which residents of Udham Singh Nagar remained without power for over two hours. The power supply to the hilly terrain was also disrupted on account of wires being snapped due to the falling of trees

Best Performing Centre Award: The Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology at Pantnagar has won the Best Performing Centre Award for 2010 at the 41st annual group meeting of the All-India Co-ordinated Shorgum Improvement Project held at the University of Agriculture Sciences at Dharwad in Karnataka. The award was received by Dr PK Shrotria, Dr Yogendra Singh and Ramesh Chandra from Dr SK Dutta at a function on April 16.

Detailed project report: Almora District Magistrate DS Garbyal has written to various officials of the Irrigation Department and others for preparing a fresh detailed project report (DPR) for implementing a mechanism for the proper discharge of water from various colonies in Almora town. He said this is was a matter of concern and locals would have to come forward and work in coordination with the administration to find a solution to the problem. He said the absence of a proper drainage system was one of the major reasons for the devastation experienced by the town during the monsoon last year. He has appealed to the people to help check illegal construction, choking of drains with polythene bags, construction over culverts and seepage from dilapidated buildings.

3 timber smugglers held: A joint effort by the Forest Department and the police led to the arrest of three alleged timber smugglers near Bindukhatta on Sunday. According to information, a large quantity of Khair wood has been seized from them. The arrest followed a tip-off that the smugglers were trying to smuggle illegally felled Khair trees in a truck. The truck has also been impounded by a team of officials and wood was also seized from it. Those arrested are Rais and Abrar of Lal Kuan and Durga Singh of Bindukhatta. They have confessed to the crime and said the illegally felled wood was to be sold in Bareilly in UP.

Body found: The body of a youth, who has been identified as a resident of the Deghat area of Almora, was found on the banks of the Kosi near Ramnagar on Sunday. His body bore the marks of snakebite and it is being assumed that he was bitten by a poisonous snake. The body was found by passersby on Sunday morning. His address was found from his pocket and he was later identified as 25-year-old Ramesh Upreti of Golna village near Deghat.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)